Marywood Clinches Top Seed with Win at Immaculata

Immaculata, PA – Marywood clinched the top seed in the CSAC playoffs with an 18-10 victory over Immaculata on Tuesday evening. The Pacers, who have now won 11 of their last 12 games, earn a first round bye and home field advantage throughout the CSAC playoffs and end the regular season with a 12-3 record including a 7-1 mark in conference play.

Rebecca Whiteman gave the Mighty Macs a 1-0 lead at the 22:27 mark of the first half, but Marywood responded with the game's next seven goals to take a 7-1 lead with 13:01 to play in the opening period. Diana D'Achille scored off a Kathy DiGiacomo assist to equalize and, along with Taylor McKeown, would score twice during the Pacers' run while Allie Sodl, Sarah Caughy, and Kimberly Commisso also tallied for Marywood during the run.

Back-to-back goals by Immaculata's Kacie O'Neill cut the host's deficit to 7-3, but the Pacers netted six of the final seven goals of the opening 30 minutes to hold a 13-4 lead at halftime. McKeown netted three more goals while Caughy, Commisso, and D'Achille also finding net as Marywood built a seven-goal cushion at the break.

The Mighty Macs scored the first two goals of the second half before Commisso completed her hat-trick at the 22:26 mark. McKeown responded to a goal by Immaculata's with 22:05 to play to make the score 15-7 in Marywood's favor before a pair of tallies by the hosts brought them to within six at 15-9. The Pacers put the game out of reach with three unanswered goals as McKeown, D'Achille, and Meg Barbarino all scored unassisted to give the visitors an 18-9 advantage with 5:02 to play. Kacie O'Neill closed out the scoring for Immaculata with 1:37 showing on the clock.

Marywood, who currently leads the nation in goals per game and draw controls, was led by McKeown's seven goals. D'Achille (4 goals), Caughy (2 goals, 2 assists), Commisso (3 goals), and Sodl (1 goal, 1 assist) all turned in multi-point performances in the victory. The Pacers held a 41-27 advantage in shots for the game, a 25-20 edge in groundballs, and won 20 of the game's 30 draw controls.

Goalie Megan Planz made 11 saves to pick up the win while Leigha Dolcemascolo played the final 3:10 without making a save. Commisso led Marywood with 10 draw controls while Mary-Christine Vignola collected game-highs of eight groundballs and four caused turnovers.

Immaculata, now 5-10 on the season (3-5 CSAC), will be the sixth seed in the conference playoffs. The Mighty Macs were led by four-point efforts from O'Neill (4 goals) and Whiteman (2 goals, 2 assists). Brittany Worthington made 17 saves in Immaculata's net.

Marywood will host a CSAC Semifinal game next Wednesday at a time to be determined. The Pacers will take on the lowest remaining seed from Saturday's first round games.